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With no health insurance, 60-year-old Larry Phillips waited until the pain in his shoulder was
unbearable before going to the emergency room at a Columbus hospital.

Muscle had torn from his rotator cuff and he no longer could raise his arm above his head.

Eight months later, after physical therapy and other treatments failed, Phillips had surgery to
repair the damage.

“I was grateful because I was in a lot of pain and it really helped,” he said.

A state financial-aid program covered some of the $30,000 tab for the outpatient surgery, but
Phillips is still getting bills for the rest.

“They’ve turned it over to bill collectors, but I don’t reply. I have no way of paying.”

Phillips is among the estimated 275,000 uninsured Ohioans who would gain coverage under Gov.
John Kasich’s plan to expand Ohio’s Medicaid program for the poor and disabled to those earning up
to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of two, that’s about $21,000 a year.

Medicaid already covers children and most parents below that income level, but not adults like
Phillips who have no dependent children and are too young for Medicare, which becomes available at
age 65.

The expansion also could impact a number of Ohio veterans. According to data confirmed by the
Department of Veterans Services, of the estimated 52,000 uninsured veterans in Ohio, the expansion
would cover nearly half. It also would cover more than 12,000 family members of veterans.

Administration officials say the expansion — which is to be covered entirely by the federal
government for three years and at 90 percent or more after that — would allow low-income Ohioans
like Phillips to get regular check-ups from a primary-care doctor and avoid expensive hospital
visits.

Years ago, Phillips worked as a school-bus driver and more recently delivered construction
supplies. But the heavy lifting caused problems with his back and feet, and he hasn’t worked for
several years. No job means he and his wife rely on her Social Security disability check, most of
which covers the rent for a subsidized apartment. He said he’s gone to free clinics, but they are
harder to get to without transportation and often he gets referred to another doctor anyway.
Phillips agrees he’d get better care at a lower cost if he were insured.

“I wait as long as I can, but when I need health care, I go to the emergency room,” he said. “
They will treat me, but it’s just kind of ‘take two aspirin and call me in the morning.’ I think
that’s because I don’t have insurance.”

For instance, he recently fell down concrete steps and one of his elbows swelled up. After a few
days, he feared he might have broken something and should have it X-rayed.

“I went to the emergency room and they put an Ace bandage on it but didn’t give me anything for
the pain, which is probably good because I don’t know how I would have paid for it. After a couple
months, the swelling went down.”